sleeve design

Would Sgt. Pepper's be exactly the same without Peter Blake's cover ? At a time when full-length records do not mean much any longer and album covers even less, I found interesting to make a website on sleeve design. Long before videos, record covers were the visual embodiment of music, a way to put images on sound. I remember having spent hours as a teenager detailing the cover of records while listening to them. Later on, I realised that some of them had things in common in their design, revealing either a mere sign of the times or a more deliberate connection. Some records even obviously copied famous sleeves, as a tribute or as a mockery. Here is a collection of record covers I came across, which share some common visual features.

Objects of cult


Metallica Master of Puppets (1986)	Various Overload: a Tribute to Metallica (1998)	Hewhocorrupts Master of Profits (2003)

Underwater


Argent In Deep (1973)	Nirvana Nevermind (1991)	"Weird Al" Yankovic Off the Deep End (1992)


Catherine Wheel Chrome (1993)	Moodswings Horizontal (2002)	Jeanne Cherhal L'Eau (2006)


Foals Total Life Forever (2010)	Marvin Hood Nevermind (2011)	B-Tight Born 2 B-Tight (2016)

Backstage pics


Patti Smith Radio Ethiopia (1976)	Pete Yorn Music for the Morning After (2001)

Psychedelic teddies


The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour (1967)	The Rutles Tragical History Tour (1967)	Tom Caruana Presents Wu-Tang vs. The Beatles Enter The Magical Mystery Chamber (2010)

No good


Amy Winehouse Back to Black (2007)	Various No Good - Soulful Women with Attitude (2008)

In/Out


Perrey-Kingsley The In Sound from Way Out! (1966)	Beastie Boys The In Sound from Way Out! (1996)	Perrey-Kingsley The Out Sound from Way In! (2001)

Wondering in blue


John Coltrane Blue Train (1958)	J-Live All of the Above (2002)

Superheroes


Kiss Destroyer (1976)	Manowar Fighting the World (1987)

Turntables


Thievery Corporation Sounds from the Thievery Hi-fi (1999)	Bosques de mi Mente Lo-Fi (2007)

Vintage guitars


The Kinks The Kink Kontroversy (1965)	Sleater-Kinney Dig me Out (1997)

The most famous pair of slacks


The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers (1971)	Mötley Crüe Too Fast for Love (1981)

Various Paint it Black - A Reggae Tribute (2002)	Various Paint it Black (2006)